Apparatus for treating timber



(No Model.)

H. E. KREUTER.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING TIMBER, RAILWAY TIES, Aw. No. 249,958. Patented No v.'22,1881'.

F1291. h F193,

Wn ess e5 ble steam-engine, the pump, and the reservoir.

lliyrrnn STATI-3s- PATENT Feten.

HUGH E. KREUTER, OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

APPARATUS FiOR TREATING TIMBER, RAILWAY-TIES, 86C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 249,953, dated November 22, 1881.

Application tiled July 1, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom fit may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH E. Kanu'rna, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, Texas, have invented a certain new and useful lmprovement in Apparatus for Treating and Preserving Timber, Railway-Ties, Src., at Various Stations; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same.

The objects of my invention are to insure the complete and perfect treatment. or impregnation of timber ofvarying hardness and de nsity, and to provide a portable organization-of apparatus by which timber at various points or stations along the line of a railroad can be treated with great facility,'etliciency, and economy. I prefer to use chloride of zinc as the antiseptic solution, on account of its superiority over other agents for this purpose.

The whole apparatus and its management are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a side elevation. Fig. 2 is a top view of the portable impregnating apparatus. Fig. 3 is a plan ot' the impregnatingyard. Fig. 4 shows the manner in which the petroleum-barrels forming the pressurereservoir are connected with each other. Fig. 5` is a cross-section through one division otl the impregnating-yard, showing the framing upon which the logs rest. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the distributing-pipes. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section through the filters and the mixing-tank. Fig. S is the corresponding top view; Fig. 9, a side elevation ot' the ilter-tank and longitudinal section of the main kennel. Fig. l0 shows the three-way cock as employed to effectuate the communication between the filters and the mixing-tank.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The scales on which the more important ligures have been drawn are indicated in the right-hand lower corner.

A is an ordinary railway flat car carrying the apparatus. Thelatter consists of a porta- The boiler of the steam-engine B supplies the donkey-pump @which draws the impregnating-fluid by a exible tube, a, from the mixing-tank D, and next forces it into a Wroughtiron upright cylinder, b, from whence it is transmitted into the series ot barrelscc, forming the pressure-reservoir. The last of the several air-tight vessels thus employed, d, is again made of iron and similar to b. I maymention here that the system of connected barrels only representsone way of forming` the reservoir. Any other air-tight and su liciently strong vessel or system ot' connected vessels of sufficient capacity (for example, an old steam-boiler) will answer the purpose. From the end of the reservoir or the last vessel, d, issues a strong flexible tube, t', leading the iluid from the reservoir into the main pipe ofthe impregnating-yard m. The comm unication from one barrel into the other, in the case as illustrated on the accompanying drawings, is effect-ed by means ot' a short bent tube, c, Fig. 4, through which the tluidentersinto,andalongbenttubedi through which it leaves the barrel. Those iron tubes are one and one-quarterinch diameter. Every long tube is furnished with a cock. The long and short tube of two following barrels, respectively, are connected by a short piece ot' india-rubber tube, g. The way taken by the iluid is indicated by arrows. This arrangement, which may in certain cases be cheapest, enables any barrel or barrels thatmay happen to be damaged in the course ofthe process to be removed or exchanged without appreciable interruption ol' the proceeding. c The iron cylinders b and d, Fig. 2, are each furnished with a water-gage, a pressure-gage, and an air-cock, h, Fig. l, on the top. Thelatter, being shut on r1 and opened on l), enables one to remove the air from all the barrels. At'- ter some pressure has been attained in them the outleteock of the last vessel is closed and the air-cock in the first vessel opened. The compressed air in the several barrels will then expand and be driven backward through the conneetin g-tubes from one barrel into the other, and tnally escape through the air-cock of vessel b. IThe fluid mixed with sap, as running from the ends of the logs, and that which, owing to some leakage, may happen to escape from the main and distributing pipes, is led back toward the apparatus in kennels. The main kennel lc, Figs.l 7, S, 9, ends in a flexible tube, l, by which the uid can be brought upon the lterin g apparatus E. This apparatus consists of two tanks, E E2, filled with cokes and IOO ' cord.

covered with a sheet of rough jute. By the latter the fluid coming from the tube l is more uniformly distributed over the surface of the filter and greater impurities are retained. The liuid, descending very slowly to the bottom of the tank, is there collected into a drain, n, and by means of the three-way cock 0 and the flexible tube p is brought into the mixing-tank D. After a quantity of mud has collected upon one of the tilters-sayE-tl1e end of the tube Z is laid into the other filter, E2; thejute is removed from E, in order to be cleaned; the three-way cock o is turned into the position as shown in Fig. 10, when the fluid will rise up to thc same level in both filters, lifting from the surface of filter E the silt deposited there, and thus enabling it easily to be cleared away. This arrangement has the advantage that the filters act continuously, and a very perfect purification ofthe waste 'fluid may be attained.

The mixing-tank has two divisions, Dl D2. One of them-sayD-now contains the proper solution of one part, by weight, of chloride of zinc in one hundred parts of water, and is, through the tube a, connected with the donkeypump C, which feeds the apparatus, while the other division, D2, is being filled from the lter through the tube p. When the pump has nearly emptied the division D2, the other, D', is com pletelyfilled up with fresh water, the proper quantityof metallic saltis added, and the tubes a and p are exchanged, so as to feed Dz from the filter and the apparatus from D.

As to Fig. 3, which represents the whole yard, F indicates a shaft or well for fresh-water supply. G is a platform for unloading the logs and rolling them upon the framings. The logs, after being impregnated, are cut into two pieces and removed to the end M of the framings, from whence they are rolled up the incline H, in order to be cut into sleepers by the circular saw J, driven by the steam-engine B. The yard in the sketch has tive divisions or systems, each adapted for the impregnation ot' forty logs. The main supply-pipe crosses the middle ot' the yard and the distributing-pipes branch from it at equal distances at right angles and in opposite directions. Any system or branch can be disconnected by means of cocks, (indicated by small circles in the sketch.)

Iconne-ct thepipes through which the antiseptic solution is forced to the logs according to thcwell-knownBoucherieplan-thatis,acrosscut is made in the log to about nine-tenths of its dia-meter, a wedge is inserted, and a cord is wound round in the cut surface. The wedge is then withdrawn and the log closes upon the A shallow chamber is thus formed in the log with which the pipe is connected. This plan is indicated in Fig. 5. The antiseptic solution is thus forced in toward each end from the center through the tubes of the vascular tissue, driving out the sap before it at both ends of the log until the tubes are clear of sap and filled with the solution instead.

The logs are considered to be suicently impregnated when the uid as running from their ends contains about three-fourths per cent. (instead of one per cent.) Vof the metallic salt, and no appreciable quantity of sap.

The fresh sleepers should be piled so as to admit of the free circulation of air over all the surfaces of the pieces, and thus bc seasoned for about six weeks before laying them into the ground.

By forcing the solution through the timber by means of a force-pump I can regulate the pressure or power required according to the nature of the timber to be treated, and thus timber of the most dense kind, as well as that having a wide uniform vascular tissue, may be equally well impregnated. This and the fact that my method will enable impregnated sleepers to be furnished very nearly at the same prices as the much less durable unitn pregnated ones hewn out ofthe logs by means' of the ax, according to our present custom, are the most striking advantages of my proceeding.

l am aware that heretofore antiseptic solutions have been forced under pressure iutothe pores of timber placed in a closed tank, as is done, for instance, in the well-known Burnett plan.

I am also aware that it is not new to force (by means ot' the pressure of the fiuid from an elevated reservoir) a solution through timber after the manner above described, this being the well-known Boucherie method; but this plan is objectionable, because the pressure cannot he varied to suit timber of dierent qualities.

Having thus fully described my process and contrivances, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent isl. The combination of the filters E E2, the pipes n n, the pipe p, and the three-way cock, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, substantially as herein set forth, of the pump C, the reservoir b, the series of reservoirs or barrels c, their connecting-pipes c fg, the end reservoir, d, and the pipe t.

3. The engine, the pump, the reservoirs into which the impregnating-solution is forced, and the pipe z', all mounted on the traveling car A, and adapted to operate on the timber in the yard, in combination4 with the tank D.

et. The portable apparatus herein described, consisting of a pump and reservoir mounted on a traveling car and adapted to operate upon the timber contained in a stationary yard, in combination with the filters, substantially as set forth.

HUGH E. KREUTER.

Witnesses:

H. B. DEAN, WM. EDWARDS.

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